A Gift For The King
by TheHttydRaven
Summary: An angsty fic where Anduin gets executed after refusing to spill Alliance secrets and his head is delivered to Varian Wrynn as a "gift from the Horde". Good times.


**Alright so I was originally gonna have a longer fic where Anduin gets captured then executed, but I only ever got around to writing the execution and the following scene.**

**Ah well.**

**So here ya go.**

《◇》

"This is your last chance, little _prince."_ The large orc spat Anduin's title almost as if it was a grave insult to the young man, spittle flying from his snarling mouth as he addressed the prince that was knelt before him. "Tell us what we wish to know and I may show you mercy."

Anduin took a moment to raise his hands, - which were chained together - using them to wipe away the small droplets of spit that had landed on his cheek, before raising his head proudly and looking the orc squarely in the eyes.

"You know no such thing as mercy. I shall say nothing." Anduin stated simply, before looking away, almost dismissively, from the orc, the young prince's bright eyes shining in the dim lighting of the cell they were in.

"So be it." The orc suddenly grinned, showing off a set of yellowed, uneven teeth. "To the executioners' block it is. Your head will make a pretty sight upon a pike."

Anduin stiffened as the orc spoke but still kept his silence, refusing to speak.

If he had to die to keep the Alliance's secrets safe, _so be it._

Anduin kept a calm face as he was dragged to his feet by the guards, and was walked from his cell and down the long corridor of the dungeons.

As they walked, Anduin felt a state of numbness settle over him as the severity of the situation registered.

He was being walked to his death.

Anduin knew that there was no way to prevent what was coming, but he felt calm about what was going to happen.

He was but one, in an army of millions.

His death may bring the Alliance to its knees, but Anduin knew it would only fall for a moment before it rose tall once again, stronger than before, determined to avenge their prince's death, his father at the head.

_His father..._

Anduin stilled for a moment before he was shoved into movement once again by the guards at his side.

His death... would certainly strongly affect his father. While Anduin certainly didn't have the strongest relationship with his father, Anduin still loved Varian, and Varian him.

Anduin briefly thought about going back on his decision, but swiftly shut that train of thought down.

He was doing this for the Alliance. For his father.

Anduin wouldn't be able to live with himself if he gave away war-changing secrets just to see his father again.

The chained prince took a deep breath of the chill winter air as he was guided outside, seeing a clearing of grass surrounded by towering walls.

Anduin felt a chill run down his spine as he took in the wooden block with a basket settled beside it placed in the middle of the grass, neatly situated beside a hangman's noose and the stocks.

The prince knew that the dark stains soaked into the wood were definitely blood from previous prisoners, his red life-blood soon to join the dark crimson stains upon the block of wood that lay before him, another life to be added to the map of people who had died there.

Anduin was led to stand beside the block, before the back of his knees were roughly kicked, forcing him to drop heavily to the ground. Anduin barely had a moment to catch his breath before a hand tangled in his blonde hair - which was now so filthy from his weeks spent in capture that it was barely recognizable as blonde - and forced his head down to the block, the rough wood scraping against his cheek. His head was held sideways against the executioners' block, so the prince could still see what was going on around him.

As one of the guards that had led him here pulled his arms behind his back and pushed him flush against the wooden block with their other hand still pressing his head against the wood, Anduin saw a lithe orc clothed in black robes step into the grass clearing, an ax loosely held in his right hand.

_The executioner._

Anduin brought in a shaky breath as the orc approached him, stopping a short distance away as he waited for the lead orc's instruction.

"Wait a moment." The orc from earlier held up a calloused and scarred hand as he stepped forward and crouched upon his heels in order to be at eye-level with the soon to-be-deceased prince. "Let's give him a moment to reconsider."

The orc let silence fill the area as he stared into Anduin's bright eyes, before sitting back and chuckling darkly. "So, little prince, will you tell us what we wish to know? Or will your head soon be separated from your weak body?"

Anduin smirked, before gathering what little moisture was left in his mouth and spitting onto the orc's face, the liquid splattering onto his green cheek.

"How about you go shove that ax up your-" Anduin was unable to finish his statement as his head was suddenly shoved into the wood, splinters embedding themselves in his pale skin as it was dragged across the rough wood.

"Do it." The orc rose a hand and dragged it down his cheek, wiping off the Princes' spit before turning and marching from the grassy area, rage evident in the stiff movements and the clenched fist at his side, his knuckles whitening. "Goodbye, _Prince _Anduin."

Anduin closed his eyes as the executioner stepped up to the block, but reopened them after a moment, unable to bear not knowing when it would be over.

The prince watched as the executioner positioned himself, before raising the ax over his head, eyes focused on Anduin's neck.

Knowing resisting would do little to help him, Anduin kept still, wide eyes trained on the ax above him, the smooth metal shining in the winter sun.

A moment passed, Anduin drew in another shaky breath of the refreshing cool air that the cold winter environment provided.

But then, the weapon flashed downwards, and it was over.

The action was so quick, so smooth, that Anduin felt almost nothing.

The ax embedded itself into the reddened wood with a resounding "thunk".

Anduin's body remained upright, the body being supported by the block of wood.

His head, however, fell from the block of wood and neatly landed in the basket that had been placed beside the executioners' block for that very reason. Anduin's eyes were opened wide, but they were now clouded and dull. His mouth was lax, opened slightly, and his chin and jaw were spattered with blood from when his neck had been separated from his body.

_Anduin Wrynn was dead._

A guard simply covered the basket with a white cloth - which rapidly soaked up the red liquid coating the neck of the young man - and picked up the basket, leaving the clearing with it as the other guard took the prince's body to be disposed of.

The executioner wrenched the ax from the block, rotating it in the bright sunlight as he examined it, before also exiting the grassy clearing, leaving only the wet grass around the red-stained block as evidence that anything had ever happened there.

《◇》

Unknown to the now-deceased prince, his head was currently in a secure box, being passed to a rouge - a rouge renowned for his skills in his trade - and being secured in the saddlebags of the rouge's mount.

"Take this to their King. I'm sure you'll be able to get it there. It is a... gift from the Horde to the Alliance."

The rouge only simply nodded, before pulling up the hood on his cloak, swinging a leg over his saddle and settling himself, grabbing the reins and snapping them to urge the swift mare into action as he set off on his mission.

《◇》

"There's still no sign of him?"

"No." Genn sighed, staring down at his hands. "I'm sorry Varian."

"We'll find him..." Varian's grip upon the armrest of his throne tightened as he spoke. "I'm sure of it."

"Oh, so positive." A mocking voice originated from the center of the room, where a cloaked figure, a rouge presumably, faded into view.

"Freeze!" Varian's voice rang through the throne room as his soldiers pointed their weapons at the intruder, who stood, chuckling, in the middle of the room.

"Don't worry... I am not here to harm you. Although it was ridiculously easy to sneak in here, it's honestly surprising you've not been killed yet." The rouge rose his hands to the air mockingly as he stared down Varian.

"Why have you come here?" Genn snarled from beside Varian, the worgen already having shifted from his human form when the threat had appeared.

"I bring a... gift." The rouge reached up and brushed the hood of his cloak down, revealing the slender face of a blood elf, who coolly stared at Varian as he reached a hand behind his back, plucking a nondescript black box from seemingly nowhere. The rouge slowly bent down and slid the box along the floor, where it came to a stop at Varian's feet.

As Varian bent to pick up the box, the blood elf mockingly bowed.

"It is a gift from the Horde."

With that final statement, the rouge smirked a disappeared from sight.

Ignoring the shouts from his soldiers, Varian felt the box in his hand, rotating it and inspecting it.

"What should we do? Do you reckon it could be set to harm you when opened?" Genn inquired from beside Varian.

"He could've easily harmed me without doing some elaborate box trap." Varian huffed as he reached for the lid of the box, which was around the size of his head, he would reckon. "I suppose we should open it and see what the Horde so desperately wants me to haze."

Not giving Genn time to protest the action, Varian pulled the lid off of the box, exposing its contents.

The room went silent.

Varian's eyes widened, his face went bone-white.

As the king's grip loosened from shock, the box fell to the floor, spilling its occupant onto the throne room floor.

Anduin's skin was grey, but the dried blood that caked his lower neck and spotted the skin of his jaw and chin was bright.

Varian found himself unable to draw breath as he stared at the decapitated head of his only child.

"V-Varian."

Genn's breathless gasp sent the frozen throne room into a whirlwind of motion and noise.

Guards who had previously been frozen in shock, staring at the head of their young prince, now rushed to secure the keep and to give their king a moment of privacy.

Varian fell heavily from his throne, armored knees crashing against the cool marble of the throne room floor as he stared at his child's head, which faced him from its position in front of him.

Genn could only stare in shock at the head of the prince who had been enthusiastically speaking with Genn about his adventures back in Pandaria only a week ago, the bright eyes that had shone brightly when discussing a topic that the prince enjoyed were now clouded, dull and devoid of life.

Varian was crouched before the bodyless head, the great king's head bowed as his shoulders shook, a hand stretched out as he hovered it over the whitened cheek of his dead son.

"Anduin..."The grief and heartbreak was audibly in Varian's quiet voice as the man stared at his son.

Genn stumbled forward, resting a hand on Varian's shoulder.

"Varian I-"

Varian brushed Genn's hand from his shoulder, before turning and walking off, leaving Genn with... what was left of Anduin.

Genn just slowly knelt, grief and shock clear in his eyes. The man buried his head in his hands, not willing to look at the decapitated head of the Prince of the Alliance.

When a guard came and took Anduin away, presumably to put him in a coffin and prepare for the funeral, Genn remained slumped over on the floor, a position in which he remained for far into the night until his wife and Tess came to assist him back to their quarters, shock and horror clear in their eyes when the reason Genn was so affected was made clear.

Varian was nowhere to be found, but it could be presumed that he was grieving on his own.

Stormwind citizens began to spread the word when the information about the prince's death was leaked somehow. The mood in the city was of despair, but undertones of rage were visible. The Alliance may have lost its prince, but they would by no means let his death not be avenged.

The Alliance was going to come for the Horde and when they did?

The Horde would be _crushed _beneath them.

The Prince of the Alliance was dead, but his spirit lived on, in the priests that healed the injured, in the soldiers that risked their lives for their people, in the everyday citizens that offered their services with a smile.

Anduin Wrynn was gone, but he would never be forgotten.

《◇》

**I dunno. Lil angsty bit. If it wasn't obvious I had no idea what to write for Varian's reaction, but I tried ig.**

**Hope you enjoyed!**

** \- R**


End file.
